Collab With Me?
by SindarDragonRider
Summary: After Phichit posts a video of Yuuri watching Viktor Nikiforov's latest video, one thing leads to another and suddenly Viktor's flying to Detroit to do a collaboration with Yuuri, aka the YouTube AU where Yuuri's a cinnamon roll and Viktor loves him for it
1. Collab With Me?

**A/N:**

 **Hi there!**

 **Before we start I just want to say that I have absolutely no idea how vlogging works, so if I've made any huge mistake please don't hesitate to correct me! :)**

 **I hope you enjoy it :)**

Yuuri smiled and waved at the camera as he signed off with a cheerful, 'See you next level!', before getting up and stopping the recording, sighing in relief. After a long few days of effort, he'd finally finished filming his new video, 'The story of my neighbour's cat'. The thought of having to edit it was a terrifying one, but for now he was happy to take small victories as they came.

He grabbed his laptop from where it sat on the sofa beside him and slid it onto his lap, opening it. He'd already downloaded most of the videos off of his camera, but there was still at least an hour of recordings to transfer from today's filming session. Yuuri's videos usually ranged from 10 to 20 minutes when finished, but he was overly critical of himself so it took him much longer than it should for him to get all that he needed. Plugging his camera into the laptop and selecting the files to be transferred across, he pressed the download button and pulled up his social media in another tab.

Overall, there was nothing particularly new; one of the more popular YouTubers that Yuuri followed – Chrisexual – had just released another video only two days after his previous one. A pang of insecurity struck him – was he boring to his followers, only uploading one video per week at the most, while other, better vloggers often uploaded one every few days? Yuuri knew he wasn't that great at his job, despite desperately wanting to be (after all, there were so many better people out there, more interesting than him, more attractive than him, more funny than him) but it was times like these when he wondered why people even watched his videos any more. It wasn't as though he was that popular.

A loud ringing sound brought him out of his thoughts, and Yuuri quickly saw that it was a message from Phichit.

Yuuri rolled his eyes.

'Phichit, you're literally next door to me. You don't need to message me.' he called, giggling slightly at his friend.

Phichit was Yuuri's flatmate, a Thai boy a couple of years younger than him, who also happened to be a YouTuber. They met at a VidCon before either of them had started their YouTube careers, and had quickly become close friends, having both recently moved to Detroit for university. Within a few months, they'd bought an apartment close to the campus and they'd seen each other grow to become well-known vloggers, often doing collaborations together. Phichit was Yuuri's best friend, and Yuuri was his.

However, Phichit was also addicted to social media, and went to somewhat excessive lengths to remain attached to it 24/7.

From the next room, Yuuri heard Phichit laughing. 'Okay, but you'll want to hear what I have to say.'

Yuuri raised an eyebrow, even though he knew his friend couldn't see it. 'Go on.'

'So, I have it on good authority that Viktor is about to post a new video, and I figured you'd want to be the first one to watch it.'

Immediately, Yuuri sat up, eyes wide. Viktor was about to post a new video?

Without even questioning the so-called 'good authority', he shoved his laptop aside, got up and ran out of the room, heading straight for Phichit. His heart raced in anticipation. Viktor hadn't uploaded anything for about a week now (8 days, 9 hours and 10 minutes, his mind supplied helpfully), which was uncharacteristic of him, and Yuuri had been beginning to get worried for the man. Viktor Nikiforov – or IcePrince, as he was known – was the amazing Russian YouTuber who'd inspired him to become a vlogger all those years ago. With shining silver hair, bright turquoise eyes and a perfect heart-shaped smile, the Russian was stunning, which Yuuri wasted no time in reminding Phichit every few hours. His laugh was like music, his voice was smooth as silk, and _okay, maybe Yuuri had the tiniest bit of a crush on him._

Posters of Viktor shamelessly decorated Yuuri's bedroom walls and copious amounts of his merchandise, including multiple dakimakuras, littered their apartment. Perhaps a little over the top, but he didn't really care. It was _Viktor_ , after all.

Throwing himself at his Phichit's bed, Yuuri slid across the rumpled sheets to collide with the Thai boy's shoulder. Fortunately, he only received a small shove in return before having a phone shoved in his face.

Grinning, Phichit shrieked, 'Look Yuuri, Mila Babicheva herself just confirmed it! _'_ _Viktor's finally finished editing his new video, will hopefully upload soon'_! Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri I can't wait!' He started jumping up and down on the bed, causing the mattress to protest loudly.

So maybe Phichit also idolised Viktor Nikiforov. But then, supposed Yuuri, who didn't?

An even bigger smile graced his face. So it really was true! Not that he'd ever doubted his friend – the other boy had an amazing, if somewhat alarming, talent at finding almost anything on social media – but seeing the proof right there, right before his eyes, was thrilling.

Sure enough, a notification soon popped up on Phichit's laptop, declaring boldly, **'** **IcePrince has uploaded a new video: THE DAY I NEARLY DIED'**. Yuuri would have laughed at the overdramatic title, if he didn't know it to be exactly Viktor's style; the man was the very definition of extra, but Yuuri thought it was hopelessly endearing and it made his videos all the better to watch.

Eagerness overwhelming him, he slammed his hand onto the touchpad of the laptop and clicked the link to open the video.

Seeing Viktor's face on the screen made his heart flutter even as he forgot how to breathe. As the man waved at the camera, he grinned his Viktor Nikiforov™ grin and winked in the way that only he could. His silver hair, recently cut short, flopped over his left eye, and Yuuri had to fight the urge to reach through the screen and push it away, to see the beautiful cerulean ocean that lay behind it.

'Привет everyone!' Viktor exclaimed happily. 'Today, I've got a huge story to tell you all…'

Yuuri held back a giggle as he watched the man's face suddenly and dramatically shift from an expression of happiness to one of exaggerated horror. Badly edited flames burst onto the screen.

'…the story of _how I_ _nearly died!_ '

Covering his eyes with his hand, Viktor fell back onto his bed and lay there for a few seconds before breaking out in uncontrolled (and quite adorable, Yuuri might add) laughter. His amusement was only added to when an irritated voice yelled out something faintly in Russian in the background.

The shot cut to one of a more composed Viktor, clearly having just stopped laughing if the twitch of his mouth and the mirth in his eyes were anything to go by. A graceful hand casually wiped his eyes free of tears and he took a deep breath before continuing.

'Anyway, yesterday-'

Yuuri stared at the laptop screen, immersed in the video and watching the man in it. He didn't see Phichit take out his phone to record them watching the video, didn't see him upload it to his Instagram, his Tumblr, his Twitter. He didn't see the bombardments of notifications on Phichit's laptop, alerting him to the hundreds of comments on the video.

Yuuri just watched Viktor talk, eventually returning to his own room and playing the video on repeat until he eventually fell asleep.

The next morning Yuuri woke to find his phone and laptop overloaded with hundreds of notifications about hundreds of messages from hundreds of different people, all of them talking about the same thing.

Viktor.

Heart racing, he hesitantly clicked on one of the earliest comments, and managed to trace the source of the social media explosion to a single post: Phichit's.

With a rapidly growing horror, Yuuri watched as a video of himself and his best friend watching Viktor's latest video appeared on screen. _No, no, no_. This couldn't be happening. People couldn't see him, a dime a dozen YouTuber, watching Viktor's videos. The man was going to see it at some point, he was sure; had probably already seen it, and Yuuri couldn't bear to think of how Viktor would feel, knowing that such an average, maybe even substandard, vlogger, watched his videos.

No, thought Yuuri, maybe he hasn't seen it. Maybe, somehow, he hasn't noticed the commotion. He knew it was wishful thinking – of course the man had seen the video, how could he not have when he was tagged in so many of the comments? But maybe, just maybe, he hadn't seen it.

However, Yuuri's desperate hopes were crushed when, as he scrolled through the comments, he saw a name stand out from the rest:

IcePrince

Feeling sick with anxiety and his heartrate moving at an almost inhuman speed, Yuuri somehow gathered the courage to click on the comment. What he saw made his heart stop.

 **'** **Привет, Yuuri! I just wanted to say that I saw the video, and you were adorable! Maybe we could collab? Message me?** **（＾** **ω** **＾）** **'**

Yuuri screamed.

 **A/N: Haha, poor Yuuri!**

 **I hope you enjoyed it! :)**

 **If you have the time please leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you all :)**


	2. Discovery

**A/N: Hello again!**

 **Thank you all so much for the reviews and subscriptions, they made me so happy ^-^ Have another chapter as a thank you :)**

 **Also, I made up the statistics at the start, so if they're not realistic I'm sorry!**

Viktor Nikiforov sat on the sofa in his apartment in Russia, Makkachin nestled on his chest and legs, as he watched the view count on his latest video soar. It was currently at nearly 900,000 – better than usual for the first hour, but not quite a personal best. He held the unofficial record kept among a large group of YouTubers for the most amount of views for a video within an hour – almost 5 million – along with the record for the most views overall for a single video – over 50 million – so there was always expectation for him. As usual, it seemed he had delivered.

After half an hour of mindlessly flicking through seemingly endless pages of TV channels, Viktor heard his phone vibrate violently, as if impatiently demanding his attention. He picked it up.

 **You have (1) new message from Chris**

Before he could do anything else, the phone vibrated again, just as aggressively as the first time.

 **You have (2) new messages from Chris**

 **You have (4) new messages from Chris**

 **You have (7) new messages from Chris**

Oh no. Chris was spamming him. Not an unusual occurrence, Viktor admitted, but he knew from experience that it was probably not a good sign (for him, at least. For Chris, it was an exciting opportunity to bring more drama and shenanigans into his life). Warily, he unlocked his phone and was immediately bombarded with messages.

 **[10:17 From: Chris] Hey Viktor**

 **[10:18 From: Chris] VIKTOR**

 **[10:18 From: Chris] You've got to see this**

 **[10:19 From: Chris] [video]**

 **[10:19 From: Chris] I KNOW**

 **[10:20 From: Chris] You've gotta do a collab with that sweet cinnamon roll**

 **[10:20 From: Chris] I'll take it as a personal offence if you don't**

Viktor stared at the messages for a while, confused (and slightly worried at the word 'collab' – what was his friend implying?), until he realised he hadn't seen the video that Chris seemed so eager for him to watch.

Apprehension running through him like a deadly infection, he tentatively clicked on the link.

What greeted him was a video of a Southeast Asian boy and a Japanese boy watching his new video on a laptop. The Japanese boy was lying on the bed, feet in the air and head in hands, while the other was grinning conspiratorially at the camera. Confusion grew within him. What made this video so important? Who were these people? Most importantly, who was it that Chris was so desperate he made a video with?

And then Viktor realised.

The Japanese man was _beautiful._

Viktor wasn't exaggerating when he said this; he was genuinely, shockingly, gorgeous. His ebony hair was fluffy and adorably messy, and looked so soft to touch Viktor wanted to reach through the screen and run his fingers through it; his eyes, even in the poor lighting, were like pools of shining stars suspended in a dark ocean; his skin flawless; his cheeks endearingly round. He laughed, unaware of the camera focused on him, and Viktor's heart soared. A wonderful warmth blossomed in his entirety that spread from his fingertips to his toes and everywhere in between.

Frantically, Viktor pulled up Chris' contact, and typed out a response as fast as he could.

 **[10:23 Sent to: Chris] Who is he?**

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long for a response.

 **[10:23 From: Chris] …what?**

 **[10:23 From: Chris] Viktor, that's Yuuri Katsuki**

 **[10:24 From: Chris] You know, Katsudon?**

 **[10:24 From: Chris] The vlogger?**

 **[10:24 To: Chris] …um**

Pulling up a new tab on his browser, Viktor hammered Yuuri's name into the search bar and slammed the search button faster than he'd ever done before. Immediately, photos of the Japanese man – Yuuri – appeared, along with his Wikipedia profile, and Viktor greedily scoured the fact file for all the information he could find. Within a few minutes, the Russian knew Yuuri's height, age, birthday, nationality, and YouTube name, along with '10 facts you should know about Yuuri Katsuki'.

He then moved on to Yuuri's YouTube channel. As time went on, Viktor became more and more astounded as to how he'd never come across the Japanese man before – he seemed to be very popular and his videos, while perhaps quieter and more reserved than his own, were wonderful to watch. He would know, seeing as he'd watched almost 7 of his videos by now, entranced by his endearing personality.

Although Viktor had noticed Yuuri for his looks, they paled in comparison to the man himself. Yuuri Katsuki was kind, genuine and one of the sweetest people Viktor had ever seen. His smiles were like rays of sunshine beaming down from heaven, and when he laughed Viktor couldn't help but laugh too. It was clear that he valued his fans as individual people and not as a means to profit, which was more than Viktor could say for some vloggers he'd met, and he could tell the other YouTuber was a truly good person both inside and out. Yuuri radiated warmth like the brightest star in the night sky, and despite knowing _how badly this was going to end don't let it happen, Vitya_ , Viktor knew he was slowly becoming infatuated with him.

And he loved it.

Viktor spent an indeterminable amount of time watching Yuuri's videos, from the first one he ever made to the most recent one, every second causing his newfound crush to deepen further and digging him into a hole he wasn't sure he would be able to climb out of. Eventually, as he waited during those infuriatingly drawn-out seconds as the 'skip ad' button counted down, he saw the time and was only mildly surprised to see that it was already 3 in the morning – he'd started watching the videos at 10:30 the previous night.

As he rubbed at his sore eyes, he fumbled in the early morning light for his phone – when had he moved to his laptop? – and, finding it on the small table at the side of the chair, turned it on.

Fortunately, there were no new messages from Chris but as Viktor scrolled through their conversation the night before, one of the Swiss man's messages caught his eye:

 **[10:20 From: Chris] You've gotta do a collab with that sweet cinnamon roll**

Suddenly Viktor knew what Chris had meant. Even the idea of doing a collaboration with Yuuri made him giddy with excitement; they could finally meet in person and he could touch the Japanese man's hair and look into his eyes and hear him laugh – maybe even _make_ him laugh. It would be the perfect opportunity to get to know him better, and Viktor couldn't wait to get to know the real Yuuri, the one hidden from the camera. He of all people knew how just different the mask you showed the world was from what you kept behind it.

Mind made up, Viktor found Yuuri's Twitter and typed out a message.

 **'** **Привет, Yuuri! I just wanted to say that I saw the video, and you were adorable! Maybe we could collab? Message me?** **（＾** **ω** **＾）** **'**

Viktor contemplated changing 'were' to 'are'; deliberated his choice of words for a while, before deciding that he never usually spent much time thinking about what he said on social media, and nothing bad had ever happened, so why worry now?

 _Because this is actually important and you're talking to your crush and you don't want to come off in the wrong way_ , supplied his brain. Viktor shushed it and pressed send.

Pleased with himself, Viktor stared at his phone, hoping for an immediate response (he was Viktor Nikiforov, he always got immediate responses) but when five minutes passed and nothing came, he quelled his disappointment and set his phone back down on the table, making extra sure the notification volume was up as high as it could go before turning the screen off.

Ignoring the voices of doubt in his head, Viktor sighed. Yuuri would be happy to receive a message from him, wouldn't he? The man was watching his video, so he must have at least some interest in him, even if just as a friend. Yes, Viktor nodded internally, everything would be fine.

Now all he had to do was wait.

 **A/N: What did you think? :)**

 **Now we've seen Viktor's side of the story, it's time to move onto their first meeting!**

 **Next chapter may take me a little while longer as I'm going back to school in a couple of days and I have a fair amount of homework to do that I've been ignoring, but I'm going to get it done as soon as I can!**

 **See you next level! :)**


	3. The Response

**A/N:** **Hello everyone!**

 **I am SO sorry for such a late update! I've had no internet for a while and life was kind of throwing everything at me for a bit so I wasn't really able to write for a while. But here I am with another chapter, and hopefully the next one shouldn't be so late :)**

 **Once again, thank you for all the comments, follows and favourites :) Also, I'm sorry if some parts of this are unrealistic - I have no idea how any of this would work XD**

 **WARNING: Yuuri has a panic attack at the start of this chapter. I managed to trigger myself a few times writing it so please avoid most of this chapter if it's a trigger for you.**

* * *

 **Привет, Yuuri! I just wanted to say that I saw the video, and you were adorable! Maybe we could collab? Message me?（＾** **ω＾）**

Yuuri stared at the screen, not quite comprehending the words before him, until suddenly it clicked and _oh my gosh Viktor Nikiforov just asked to do a collab with me what do I do what do I say-_

He hadn't noticed he'd forgotten to breathe and his body was shaking violently until Phichit's voice slowly formed among the static buzzing in his head.

'-uri… Yuuri!'

The Japanese man eventually managed to break enough out of his panic to see his best friend's face hovering in front of him, expression contorted into one of concern and eyes swirling with worry. Noticing he'd gotten Yuuri's attention, Phichit allowed a relieved smile to filter onto his face, though the tension in his body remained.

'Yuuri, what's wrong?'

Yuuri took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Took another. Then, screwing up his eyes in a desperate attempt to ignore reality, he raised an arm and pointed wordlessly at his computer screen. If Phichit saw the outstretched limb trembling, he said nothing, instead leaning past Yuuri to look at the screen. When he saw the message, he seemed torn between excitement and sympathy. However, knowing Yuuri, Phichit was all too aware of all of the doubts and fears his friend would be fighting internally, and settled with simply reaching out and hugging him. A sharp pain rose inside him as he felt his shirt dampen, felt the shaking, heard the raw sobs and stuttering breaths deafening in the silence of their apartment. He forced it back, determined to be strong for his friend.

'Yuuri,' he murmured, 'you've been dreaming of this for years, and now it's finally happening, you need to embrace it. Don't allow yourself to think of everything that could go wrong – especially about what Viktor will think of you. You're an amazing person, Yuuri, even if you can't quite believe it yourself yet. And if Viktor can't see that, well, he's missing out. Besides, he was the one who asked you to collaborate – he must like you if he's willing to make a video with you.'

Phichit knew that his best friend wouldn't believe his words, but he knew from experience that Yuuri found it comforting when he spoke to him. And if Phichit could do anything to help the man he viewed as a brother, he was more than willing to do it. Pulling back from where his head had been resting on Yuuri's shoulder, Phichit pulled on a playful yet sincere smile.

'And Yuuri, if, somehow, things go wrong, and Viktor hurts you, you know he'll have me to deal with.'

This earned a small smile from Yuuri. The doubts were still tearing through his mind like a hurricane of shattered glass, but Phichit's words were helping him to regain some control over the raging storm of thoughts, even if he didn't quite believe them himself. Wiping away the last of the tears that had dried salty on his face, he returned Phichit's grin with a shaky smile of his own; not quite real, but not entirely false. It was a start.

'Now,' began Phichit, turning to face the laptop and grinning as his hands hovered longingly over the keyboard, 'what are we going to say to Viktor?'

Yuuri tensed slightly, but not so much as before. 'Uh...'

Phichit took Yuuri's silence as an invitation to continue speaking. 'Well, obviously you're going to say yes, but-'

Yuuri ignored Phichit's rambling as he realised he had no idea what he was going to say. On the one hand, it was an absolutely terrible idea – he knew that eventually, inevitably, he would make a mistake and Viktor would see the mess of a human being he truly was. The shame of letting his idol down was terrifying in its enormity, and people would find out in the end; they always did. The world would soon know everything Yuuri did wrong. His followers would disappear, his friends become too embarrassed to associate with him - _a failure_ \- and his barely-functioning career would be torn away from his hands like a life preserver from a drowning child.

However, a small part of him, deep below the oceans of anxiety and self-loathing barely contained within him, wanted to do it. Desperately. He wanted to work with Viktor, even for a single video, so deeply and fervently that it almost overwhelmed him. Just the chance to know the Russian – really know him, not just who he appeared to be on camera – was something Yuuri was dying to have, but now, when he was presented with the perfect opportunity, he couldn't quite take it.

Yuuri wished he was braver.

As the seconds ticked by, each one seeming to stretch for hours, the Japanese man slowly realised that, despite the chorus of voices in his head screaming at him to say _no,_ the singular voice crying _yes_ somehow rang out louder and more passionately than any of the others.

 _Yes._

 _Yes._

'Yes.'

And suddenly Yuuri's mouth was moving, forming the word he so desperately yearned to say.

'Yes.'

 _Yes._

The room filled with silence.

When Yuuri realised what he'd said, he felt no fear come to swarm him. No anxiety crashed down to crush him under its weight. Instead, a strange feeling of joy swelled up inside his body, sending warmth rushing everywhere from his fingers to his toes. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Yuuri felt free.

Simultaneously, a smile spread across both Yuuri and Phichit's faces as their eyes met, excitement shining in their eyes.

'Phichit, pass me the laptop.'

'Of course.'

Yuuri took it from Phichit's hands and, not allowing himself to think too much about what he wrote (because he wasn't going to allow himself to back out now), typed out a quick response.

 **Hi Viktor!**

 **I'd love to do a collaboration with you! Do you have any ideas as to what we could make a video about? I have a few myself, but I'd like to hear yours!**

 **I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!**

 **Yuuri**

Reading back through what he'd typed, the Japanese vlogger felt a surge of boldness run through him and he impulsively added an extra line at the end.

 **My Skype name is Katsukidon, if you'd rather talk face-to-face （＾ｖ＾）**

Yuuri didn't allow himself to think about what he'd just written, and pressed the send button. He sat back against the pillows piled up on his bed, suddenly exhausted.

Dear God.

He'd spoken to Viktor Nikiforov.

Looking up, he saw Phichit grinning so wide it was almost concerning.

'Yuuri!' he squealed.

Soon, a loud noise burst from Yuuri's phone, which was lying discarded on the table beside his bed, and he turned it on.

 **Twitter: You have (1) new message from: Viktor Nikiforov**

His eyes widened.

Quickly, he pulled open his laptop and, as his phone had said, found a new message from Viktor:

 **I had an idea or two in mind, but if you have some of your own please tell me them!**

 **Maybe we could talk about it over Skype? Are you doing anything at the moment?**

 **Viktor**

Yuuri took a deep breath - _this was actually happening_ \- and, with another surge of confidence (where was it all coming from?) typed back.

 **I'm not busy. Call me when you're ready（＾ｖ＾）**

 **Yuuri**

Soon enough, a notification popped up from Skype, alerting him to an incoming call. Yuuri turned to Phichit, who understood and got up from where he'd been sitting. Giving Yuuri one last hug, he shot him an encouraging smile.

'Good luck, Yuuri!'

'Thank you, Phichit.'

With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

With excitement and apprehension building within him, Yuuri clicked the 'answer' button and was suddenly looking at the beautiful blue eyes and shiny silver hair of Viktor Nikiforov, whose mouth was tilted upwards in his familiar heart-shaped smile. The sparkles in his eyes were visible even through the grainy webcam, and Yuuri found himself unable to look away.

Then Viktor winked, and waved at the camera.

 _'Hello, Yuuri!'_

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Sorry it's a bit angsty, but it's just so we can get it over with before the fluff can begin!**

 **Also, I need some help from you guys - I have absolutely no idea what they're going to make a video about so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them! :D**

 **See you next level!**


	4. Communication

**A/N: Hello everyone!**

 **I'm so sorry for yet another late chapter! The internet company I use blocked this site and I had to get my parents to unblock it, but reminding them I write fanfiction took a lot of internal convincing... it was horrifying when I saw it had been blocked XD**

 **On other topics, THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH for all of your comments and suggestions for what video they could do - I loved them all and they will all be used at some point in this story :D**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

'Hello, Yuuri!' Viktor Nikiforov smiled, eyes lightly closed and hand raised in a wave at the camera. Yuuri watched, mesmerised, as the Russian's long silver fringe gracefully shifted across his face as his head tilted slightly. _Beautiful,_ Yuuri thought. The man on his screen was beautiful, just as he was in every photo and video he featured in, but somehow, here, now, away from the eager eyes of the public, Yuuri thought he was even more so.

At some point during his staring, the Japanese man realised he was supposed to be replying to Viktor, and a burning crimson burst into his face as he fumbled for words.

'H-hello!'

When Viktor didn't immediately respond, Yuuri quickly forced more words out.

'I'm Yuuri Katsuki, a vlogger. You, uh, asked to do a collaboration with me… but you already know that of course, sorry. Oh, what am I saying?'

Eyes widening in shame, he lowered his head to stare blankly at his hands twisting and clenching in his lap, as he felt the flames in his cheeks burn brighter and deeper than ever before.

 _This was a terrible idea, this was a terrible id-_

Then Viktor laughed.

If Yuuri hadn't been so embarrassed, he might have looked up in surprise at the melodic sound of the other man's voice – enthusiastic yet gentle, it was unlike anything Yuuri had heard before; this laugh was musical, genuine, and so unmistakably _Viktor_ that it ignited a familiar warmth deep within his core. Despite himself, a small smile danced on Yuuri's lips as he drank in the sound.

'Yuuri,' Viktor sang amusedly, 'Don't worry, I haven't forgotten why I called you.'

He raised a finger to his lips, eyes lighting up with a playful spark. 'But you're so cute, don't count on me remembering much longer!'

Yuuri spluttered.

Did Viktor Nikiforov just call him _cute?_

'Um, thanks… but I think you're exaggerating a bit…' he mumbled before he could stop himself. _Well done, now he knows about your non-existent self-esteem and he's going to hate you._

But the Russian just frowned, face falling into an expression of pure confusion. He tilted his head further to the side, looking remarkably like his poodle.

'But Yuuri, what do you mean? Your eyes, for a start, are like pools of chocolate – the best kind, you know, halfway between milk and dark? – and your hair is like a midnight sky, so fluffy and soft and-'

'Okay! I understand! You think I'm cute.' Yuuri squeaked, voice a few octaves higher than seemed humanly possible. Internally, he was screeching incomprehensibly at anything and everything. Viktor thought he was cute. Viktor thought he was cute.

'And that's because you are.'

The younger man smiled shyly. _Here goes nothing._ 'So are you.'

A faint pink blossomed briefly across the other vlogger's cheekbones as he looked away, silver hair flopping down to obscure some of his face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Yuuri fought the urge to giggle.

Viktor coughed.

'So, Yuuri, what were your ideas for our video?' he asked, leaning forward.

'Well, I was thinking that maybe we could do a video where we try food from each other's countries? I've always wanted to try traditional Russian food, and I'm sure I could find a shop that sells it in Detroit. Or we could teach each other some words from our native languages? I don't know, what about you?'

Viktor hummed. 'Well, I had Chris give me some ideas, and though most of them were oddly sexual, which I suppose I should have expected, he did have a few good thoughts. Never have I ever, 20 questions, 7 second challenge…'

The Russian's voice faded and his eyes drifted to somewhere behind Yuuri, a thoughtful smile on his lips. 'I remember that photoshoot.'

Yuuri frowned. What did he mean?

'Huh?'

'Oh, I meant that poster on your wall – it reminded me of the photoshoot. I got to have Makkachin with me in that one… she loved the attention.'

Oh.

 _OH._

Yuuri's heart skipped a beat as time slowed to a standstill.

The posters. He hadn't taken them down.

He screamed a little.

Frantically trying not to die in utter humiliation, Yuuri quickly turned to face the opposite direction, taking his laptop with him to turn it away from the mass of posters littered over the wall. When Viktor just started talking about the posters on the new wall behind Yuuri, the younger vlogger just got up and began to rapidly tear down the posters in the hopes of saving at least a fragment of his shattered dignity (not literally – some of those posters cost him a fortune). However, Viktor immediately became disappointed.

'Wait, Yuuri, stop!' he pouted.

Yuuri paused and turned to face him, confused and slightly incredulous. 'Why? This is weird and creepy and horrible and-'

'If you ask me, I think it's kind of sweet.'

The fondness in Viktor's gaze shocked Yuuri into silence, so he settled for staring back into those shining aquamarine eyes, so full of happiness and _something_ that he couldn't quite name but felt drawn to, like a moth to a flame.

'Okay,' he finally said, slowly returning to the laptop on the bed. How could he say not to that face? Besides, the Russian seemed overwhelmingly genuine, and somehow Yuuri found himself inclined to believe him.

'Much better!' Viktor grinned, then tilted his head as a pensive look spread across his face. ''So, which video should we do? I was happy with doing one of the ones Chris suggested, but your ideas are so good too that I can't decide… do you have a preference?'

Yuuri thought for a moment. The reason he'd originally been hoping to do one of the videos he suggested was because they involved minimal embarrassment on his part, but it wasn't as if he could ask to do one of his ideas. That was rude, and despite all that had already happened, he still desperately wanted to make a good impression on the other vlogger. Out of Viktor's ideas, 20 questions seemed least humiliating and it would give him an excuse to find out more about the other man. Yuuri made his decision.

'I guess 20 questions sounds good?' he replied, trying his hardest to make it sound like a statement rather than a question. He wasn't sure he succeeded, but Viktor seemed convinced as he gave him a blinding smile.

'Great!'

However, there was one more thing Yuuri was wondering, and had been since the Russian had first contacted him.

'But Viktor, how are we going to make the video? I'm in Detroit, and you're on the opposite side of the world in Russia. Do you think we could do it over Skype? It's not great quality but it's possible…'

'Ah, don't worry about that, Yuuri! I've got it all covered! Also, do you have time to film over the next few weeks?'

'I just finished my last video, so definitely. When do you want to start?'

On the screen, Viktor looked away from the camera and his eyes widened slightly as he saw something. He looked back at Yuuri apologetically.

'Sorry, Yuuri, but I need to go – I'm going to be late to something if I don't.'

He sighed, then shot Yuuri a reluctant smile. 'Guess I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Is 10am okay with you?'

'Yes, that's good. See you tomorrow!' Yuuri smiled and watched as Viktor waved as he hung up. He forced back the disappointment building inside him. Where was Viktor going? It must be pretty late at night or early in the morning in Russia, so it was strange he was going out now. It didn't make sense, though honestly not much about the man did.

Shaking his head and ignoring the doubts already forming in his mind about their conversation, Yuuri shut his laptop and fell backward across his bed. It was actually happening. He was doing a collaboration with Viktor. Admittedly, he still wasn't quite sure how it was going to work, but the Russian seemed to know what he was doing, so he'd just wait and trust the man.

Sighing happily, Yuuri smiled.

 _Until tomorrow, Viktor._

* * *

 **A/N: tHeY HAvE spOkEN**

 **Haha last chapter I was reminded about the posters and I couldn't resist! I also only just realised the huge time zone differences...**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter - if you have the time please leave kudos and tell me what you thought! :)**

 **See you next level!**


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